Seeing Things Differently
By John Randall – www.facebook.com/jrsussexphotography
In my last blog, I wrote that there were promising signs that spring was just around the corner and then the Beast from the East 2 arrived. Although it may not have brought as much snow as some of us may have wanted, the freezing temperatures did have one benefit, in that the “earth stood as hard as iron” which in my opinion is much better than trudging ankle-deep in mud!
I have to admit that even at my age, I’m a big kid when it comes to snow and the biting winds didn’t stop me and my wife from walking up to Mill Hill in search of some the white stuff. It was worth it and we were amazed at just how little snow was needed to get people out sledging.
Well the freezing whether appears to be behind us and there are promising signs that the lockdown restrictions will be slowly easing, so what better time to get out and explore our town, beach and countryside.
Seeing things differently
As I mentioned in my first blog, I love taking photographs yet I don’t consider myself to be a photographer. I don’t own an SLR camera and take nearly all my images on my mobile phone, currently a Samsung Galaxy S10. I also don’t use photo-editing software such as Lightroom or Affinity but will on occasions play around with the in-phone photo editing App.
Over the years and by being a member of the Southwick Camera Club, I’ve come to realise that photographers often see the world differently. On a walk, for instance I can go from simply standing and admiring the view to laying horizontal on the ground to get a particular image that perhaps only I see.
For me photography is a way of seeing the world differently and capturing things that others may have overlooked. Thankfully, with the advances in phone technology, all of us can now take, store and easily share our images.
Another thing about the recent cold snap was how beautifully it can transform nature into art. A fading rose, blades of grass, a dead seed head and even a spider’s web are somehow magically transformed.
Look down!
We’re all use to living busy lives, rushing from one place to another and looking ahead to the next thing we have to do. So much so, that sometimes we forget to stop and look around us and that includes looking down.
On many of my lockdown walks, I’ve come to appreciate the beautiful and sometimes bizarre things that lay at my feet. For instance, many of us may have seen a feather floating though the air but the other day, I was lucky to come across these swan feathers, floating in a puddle, so without any special camera equipment other than my mobile phone I snapped this shot.
Later in the week, whilst walking along the high tide line, I looked down and noticed among the beauty and rich colours of the pebbles, shells and seaweed that the receding tide also left behind a sea urchin shell, a small piece of smoothed driftwood and a broken plastic child’s toy. A little further on, I was struck how much a small weathered fragment of chalk reminded me of a ghost!
The Best of Shoreham-by-Sea 2021 photo competition
So next time you’re out and about, whether it be in the town, down on the beach, by the river or up on The Downs just stop for a moment and look around at the amazing things right on our doorstep. Then take out your phone, snap a shot and enter it for the Best of Shoreham-by-Sea 2021 photo competition.
Are you a local to Shoreham-By-Sea and have a story to tell about our wonderful town? Then get your story online! #EnjoyShorehamBySea are looking for contributors to celebrate all the wonderful things to do, find and discover of our past, present and future. So if you wanna get published online please contact us today.
